>From The Australian, at: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/index.asp?URL=/national/4334660.htm Rural welfare services to go private By SID MARRIS 29jan99 UP to 100 private, community and State government agents will be licensed to provide social security services in remote and rural areas under a plan to expand Centrelink announced yesterday. But the Opposition and public sector union slammed the arrangements as a "Band-aid" reaction to 5000 job cuts across the agency and a breach of commitments that Centrelink services would not be outsourced. Community Services Minister Warren Truss said 74 new agents, and various electronic information and videoconferencing facilities would be established in far-flung regions as part of a Rural Outreach program. The proposal will seek to combine offices with similar State government outposts and existing community welfare groups as well as the new private agents. Mr Truss said the agents were selected rather than the contracts going to tender because there were few individuals or groups capable of providing the services. He said private service providers would be subject to the same privacy rules as public bodies. Opposition family and community services spokesman Wayne Swan said the improvement in services in some areas would not undo the Government's decision to slash $154 million in funding and 5000 jobs from Centrelink offices. "This is just another example of the Howard Government's Orwellian use of langauge and their refusal to acknowledge the consequences of their mean money-pinching approach to community of services," he said. Community and Public Sector Union division secretary Mark Gepp accused Mr Truss of misleading parliament in November by stating the Government would not outsource the work of Centrelink. National Farmers Federation president Ian Donges, however, said the initiatives would have a positive impact for country people. "It will mean that more country people will have face to face contact when they want to discuss services such as the age pensions, retirement assistance to farmers and family payments," he said.
